


the hands that you're in

by mayachain



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Pets, Rituals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-10
Updated: 2013-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-23 01:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/920441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rodney receives sad news from his niece, he turns to Teyla for advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the hands that you're in

**Author's Note:**

> loosely connected to [beating hearts](http://archiveofourown.org/series/1694), [and counting stars](http://archiveofourown.org/works/342129) and [toward the sky](http://archiveofourown.org/works/688356)

“Is there something I can do?” Teyla heard. When she lifted her eyes off the slightly overdue mission report on the market her team scoured for resources two days ago, she saw Rodney hovering in her doorway.

“Do about what?” she asked.

“Madison wrote. Her cat died. Apparently her lungs just gave out, they don’t know why. She wasn’t that old yet, for a cat, I mean she was almost twelve and that’s _getting_ old for a cat but still not that old. Anyway, she’s very sad. Madison, I mean. It’s not like I can go there and hug her. I remember when I lost Cat I., I cried for a week. And I guess I can write her that back and try to reminisce with her as a new member of Miko's and my league of bereaved pet owners, but is there something besides that I can do and then tell her I did it?”

Teyla frowned. She did not quite understand the concept of pets, for all that children sometimes brought home injured animals and nursed them back to health. But she had met the small cat called ‘Curie’ several times when they had visited Jeannie’s family. The creature had taken a shine to Ronon, much to Madison’s delight. It had been wary of Torren, but once it had curled up against Teyla’s stomach when she and her son had taken a nap.

She remembered the feeling of soft fur and a warm heartbeat through her clothes as quite pleasant. 

Rodney was still peering anxiously at her.

“You could light a candle,” she suggested. His expression cleared. He lifted a finger as if to point, then aborted the motion halfway through.

“I have to – …I have to – “

Still a little bemused but content to have helped her friend, she watched as her door closed behind him.

A few hours and two Torren-related breaks later she was about to send her report off to Woolsey when an email alert popped up on her tablet.

A few clicks revealed a video file that was pending compression for the evening’s data burst and that had landed in Teyla’s mailbox via CC. 

Teyla opened the file and smiled at the image of a small flame burning and flickering across her screen. Her heart was very full and aching at the loss of life it represented, even if said life was that of a tiny cat, not a human’s. As she made herself finish her work she resolved to have Torren draw Rodney a picture and touch his forehead to his as he, too, would not be able to experience his niece’s hug until Christmas.

When Kanaan returned from helping prepare dinner for three hundred Lanteans, his perceptiveness to her mood had him light an extra _ìda_ for their meal. The two of them spent the evening telling their son about Athos and the places their people had set up their temporary villages, and the time they had both carried a litter of _drimà_ kids to Charrin.


End file.
